Legal
When the requirement comes from another country
You are asked for a document that in your country has another name, no issuer and no exact equivalent. The clock runs anyway.
The request comes from a parent company, a client or a group in another country, and it carries a list written for their reality: names of documents issued there by a specific body, formats not used here, and certificates that **simply do not exist under that name in your jurisdiction**. Whoever sent it does not know that, and often cannot: to them the list is «the normal one».
The four kinds of mismatch, and they are not solved alike
| The mismatch | Typical example | What resolves it |
|---|---|---|
| Same document, another name | A certificate called something else here | Explaining it once, in writing |
| Document with a different scope | Covers more or less than theirs | Saying what yours covers |
| Issued by someone else here | A different authority or body | Saying who issues it and why |
| **It does not exist here** | **No equivalent** | **Proposing what stands in for it** |
Important
**The work in this position is not obtaining the document: it is translating the requirement — and that translation must be written once and kept.** The same request will come back next year, with a different person on the other side and probably in the same format. Whoever has written down «what you are asking for is called this here, is issued by this body and covers this» answers in an hour. Whoever has not explains it from scratch every time, and differently every time.
How to answer a list that does not fit
- 1
Match point by point whatever does exist
Most of the list usually has a clear equivalent.
- 2
Name what is called something else here
And attach it, so the equivalence is visible.
- 3
Explain what does not exist, never leave it blank
An unexplained gap reads as a breach.
- 4
And keep that explanation as a document of your own
It is an asset reused for years.
Watch out
The mistake that costs most time is **leaving blank what cannot be supplied**. On the other side someone is working through a list of boxes, with no context about your country and with their own deadline; an empty box is a breach, and a box with two lines explaining why that does not exist here is a footnote. It is literally the same situation with two different outcomes, and the difference is two lines written in time.
Worth knowing
Which document in your jurisdiction is equivalent to a foreign one, what standing it has abroad and whether it needs sworn translation, legalisation or an apostille **is settled by your adviser**, and depends on the destination country and the use. Here we cover the organisational part: how to answer a list that does not fit and how not to rebuild the answer every year.
›Must I translate everything I send?
It depends on the use and the destination, and your adviser settles that. Ask before translating forty pages.
›What do I do about what does not exist here?
Explain it and propose the equivalent. It is almost always accepted.
›Is last year's answer usable?
This is precisely the case where it is most usable, if it was kept.
A real case
The situation
A list arrives naming documents that do not exist here.
What you do
- Keeps the explained equivalence alongside the documents
What you get
The next request is answered in an hour.
The situation
What cannot be supplied is left blank.
What you do
- Allows attaching the explanation to each point
What you get
The gap reads as a footnote rather than a failure.
The situation
The same request arrives yearly and is rebuilt from scratch.
What you do
- Keeps what was sent, with its date and context
What you get
You start from the previous answer.
The situation
Each subsidiary answers in its own way.
What you do
- Gathers the group's documentation in one place
What you get
The parent receives comparable answers.
The situation
Forty pages get translated that nobody asked to be translated.
What you do
- Keeps exactly what was requested and its scope
What you get
You translate what is needed rather than what was sent.
The situation
The foreign contact changes and it all has to be explained again.
What you do
- Keeps the explanation as a reusable document
What you get
A change of person does not restart the work.
This article answers
- asked for a certificate that does not exist here
- foreign parent company requesting documentation
- equivalence of documents between countries
- foreign client asking for different paperwork